Pictures
by turtlethebeep46
Summary: Dean Winchester and Castiel Novak grew up together. They were best friends. Things happened, and they ended up with some tattoos...
1. Pictures

I always knew I was different. My family are the only people who had seen my tattoo. Not even Cas had, and I'd never seen his, until sophomore year, but more on that later. We decided it was best that we don't show each other the new ones we got, not that there were that many. I was only in love with one person.

Perhaps I should explain, in case you live under a rock. Everyone is born with a unique tattoo on their ankle. No one has the same tattoo. And every time you fall in love, you get the tattoo of the person you love on a different part of your body. People who fall in love easily tend to have more, and people like me, well let's just say my heart isn't very big. Now that that's cleared up, let me tell you the story Castiel Novak and I.


	2. Kindergarten

It was a few days before my first day of kindergarten, and there was a knock on the door. My mom answered it.

"Hi, I'm Becky Novak-Shurley and this is Castiel, who will be starting kindergarten next week, we just moved in next door. I decided it would be nice to meet some of our neighbors."

"Hi Becky, I'm Mary Winchester. This is my son Dean, he'll be in kindergarten this year too. Why don't you come in and have some lemonade." Mom replied. I peeked out from behind my her legs to see this small brown-haired blue-eyed child.

Becky smiled "Thanks. Come on Cas, let's have some lemonade and make some friends." Cas gave a little grin. His blue eyes sparkled.

•••

I got to the bus stop fifteen minutes early, and Cas was there not long after. We both had our spider man lunch boxes and backpacks. I was excited. Brand new everything, including friends. As the bus pulled up, we hugged our moms and Cas got on the bus. I turned to Sam, who was on the verge of tears.

"Don't worry, Sammy." I said. "I'll be back this afternoon. You and mommy can go do something fun." He put on his puppy dog eyes. I gave him a hug and ran to the bus.

Cas was at the very front of the bus. "I saved you a seat." He said softly.

"Thanks." I sat down next to him.


	3. First Grade

For the first week of school, Cas was the only person I talked to. Actually, it was like that for most of kindergarten. We were best friends. We never left each other's sides. All through elementary school, we got teased. When other kids were playing tag, we were sitting in the corner or running around holding hands. We thought that's what friends did, and that no one else in our grade had a best friend.

One time, Cas was playing with this girl, Jo, and I was sitting at a picnic table. A boy named Zachariah, who was always first to start the teasing saw this and walked over to me.

"Ooh. Looks like Cas has a new best friend, maybe even a GIRLFRIEND." Zachariah said mockingly.

"It's okay. I know Cas will still be my friend. Jo was just lonely because Ash is sick today, so he wanted to cheer her up." I replied calmly. Not getting the reaction he expected, Zachariah pushed me on the ground. Cas saw this and ran over to me.

"Hey!" He shouted, "Just because you are upset doesn't mean you have to pick on Dean." Zach chuckled and walked over to Cas

"Why do you care so much about Dean? Do you LOVE him?" Zach taunted.

Cas smiled. "I care so much because he is my friend, and if it was me on the ground right now, I know he would be doing the same." He pushed past Zach and walked over to me. "Are you okay?" He offered his hand out for me to grab.

"I'm fine, thanks." I graciously accepted. And just like that, it was over. Cas smiled, his blue eyes sparkling. We never really spoke of it, but I never forgot it.

Things like that happened all the time. We got teased for holding hands on the playground, for spending all of our time with each other, and for not showing people our tattoos. Everyone did. Like it was an achievement. Hooray, you found another person who you think you'll spend of your life with, but you'll probably date for a year and break up with.


	4. Fifth Grade

Cas and I had an agreement that began in fifth grade. We promised we wouldn't show each other our tattoos. At first I didn't know why, but I knew what triggered it.

In fifth grade, you go through "Health Class", which is the equivalent of beginners sex ed. They divided us up into two classes, boys and girls. Everybody started by learning about their organs and the organs of the opposite sex. During the very last class, we talked about our tattoos.

"Does anyone know why we have these tattoos?" The teacher asked.

Ash raised is hand. "My momma said that every time you fall in love, you get a tattoo."

"Very good, Ash. When you are born, you have a one of a kind picture on your ankle. That picture is called a tattoo. When you fall in love with someone, their tattoo shows up somewhere else on your body. But you have to be careful, because if you are in a relationship and only one of you has the other's tattoo, hearts will be broken." She swallowed and held back tears. "If you boys want, you can see some of my tattoos."

All the boys went to crowd around her, but Cas pulled me back. "I want you to promise me something," He said. His face was long, and he looked nervous. "and I need you to mean it."

"Sure Cas, anything."

"I don't want to see your tattoo, and I don't want you to see mine. Not yet, anyway."

"Of course." He looked down at his feet. "Hey, look at me. I don't know why it's so important to you, but I won't show you my tattoo."

He made his awkward half smile. "Thanks, Dean."


	5. Seventh Grade

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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="4054f07f4c0a0f288d82e7d76d459881""Damn, Cas. Look at her." Lisa walked by us in the halls before first hour./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="3224eb072f5b7043c3c70f9278af9de2""Dean, you know I don't like it when you swear." He replied./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="52336dfc0e5cca47a00e798ec26cc2e9""Shit- I mean- damn it... wait- FUCK! Sorry. I'll try to work on that." I gave a half smile./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="44878c3c4bc76933cde4d4178de7424a""Thank you. And in response to the girl, don't even think about it."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="00e3c38d19b366f521e4498368adcf97""Why not?" My voice had a hint of disappointment... ok, maybe more than a hint./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="7bd00838006dc2503f8ec9665427154d""A, because you shouldn't date in seventh grade. B, she's WAY out of your league." He grinned./p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="488e98027234bc2b1e30ea153a53aa79""You look depressed," Cas said, trying to suppress a grin. "Did you get rejected?"/p  
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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="120a9bd9a377560c41651f61b52c2631""It's-" More laughing "I'm sorry, I can't."/p  
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	6. Freshman Year

"Dude, Lisa's expecting to go to the dance with me, but I really want to break up with her. What do I do?" I looked at my phone. It was four forty-five. This call had to be quick because Lisa would be over at five for "studying".

"Do it tonight. Then she has a month before the dance to find someone else to go with."

"Should I tell her at the door or after we're done?"

"Well, what do you plan on doing tonight?"

"She'll probably want to make out."

"Then do it after like, ten minutes of studying- actual studying, then it doesn't look as bad. Just make sure you do it before she tries to kiss you."

"Great, so all I have to do is say 'I don't love you, and I don't see this relationship going anywhere' and show her that I don't have her tattoo, right?"

"Wrong! First you should probably ask if she has yours. Then, if she doesn't, say something like 'Listen, I know it's bad timing, being a month before the dance and all, but I really need to focus on my school work. I really want to get into a good college, and that means I have to get my grades up', or something like that."

"And if she does have my tattoo?"

"Then I don't know what to tell you other than you're fucked."

"Wow, thanks, Cas. Really appreciate all the support I'm getting from you." He chuckled. Just then the door bell rang. "Shit, I gotta go. I'll talk to you after she leaves."

"Text me if you want me to get you out of a sticky situation."

"Thanks, dude. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Crash and burn, Dean, crash and burn."

I ran downstairs. Lisa pecked me on the cheek. I smiled. We sat down at the kitchen table and took out our math. I waited ten minutes, like Cas said, then brought it up.

"Hey, Lis?"

"Yeah?"

"Do... do you have my tattoo?" I asked slowly.

"Y-yeah. Why?" She looked nervous.

"No reason. I have to go to the bathroom, I'll be right back." I ran upstairs and called Cas.

"Dude, she has your tattoo. I need your help." I whispered.

"I'll be right over."

"Wait, what are you- Cas? Are you still there? Cas? Cas!" And he hung up on me. I ran back downstairs.

"Hey, um... okay. Here's the deal. I know it's bad timing, being a month before the dance and all, but I really need to focus on my school work. I really want to get into a good college, and that means I have to get my grades up, and I can't focus as much as I want to on you when I'm doing that."

"What?"

"It's just-" Just then there was a single knock on the door, then Cas burst in.

"Dean. Dean, I need your help." He was in tears.

"Hey, Cas, what's wrong?" I ran over to him and wrapped him in a hug.

"I should go. I won't say anything, Cas, I promise. I'm sorry we didn't work out, Dean." And with that, Lisa walked out the door.

As soon as the door was shut, Cas' tears turned to laughter. "Did you see that? That happened like I thought, right?" Cas went into one of his laughing fits.

"That was your way of fixing things? Faking a meltdown?" I grinned. At that moment, I realized I had feelings for Cas. His head was in my lap, and he was grinning. He looked so adorable. I wanted things to stay like that. But they didn't.


	7. Summer Before Sophomore Year

A few months after Lisa and I broke up, things got complicated between Cas and I. I started hanging out with a new group of guys, and I left Cas on his own. I got invited to a big end of the summer party and was allowed a plus one. I felt bad about leaving Cas alone all summer, so naturally, I called him.

"Dean?"

"Cas, hey. How's it going?"

"Um, fine."

"What's with the 'um'?"

"Well, you didn't call me or text me for most of the summer, and now it's 'hey'?"

"Well, I was calling to invite you to a party, but if you don't want to go..."

"Who's party is it?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes."

"It's Benny's. Look, I know you don't like him, but I miss you. You and I can go swim while they do spin the bottle or whatever they do these days."

"Fine. When is it?"

"Tonight. I'll pick you up. Make sure you have a swim suit and towel, because we are going swimming."

He groaned. "Fine, I'll go. But only for you. I like being an introvert, and this doesn't help my reputation among the other introverts." I laughed. "See you tonight."

At six, we got to Benny's house. There was already a lot of people there, most of which I didn't recognize. Probably some of Benny's rich friends. Cas and I snuck into the back and looked for the food.

"Mmmm. Cupcakes."

"Cas, aren't you on a diet?"

"Technically, yes. But everyone knows that once a week, you're allowed a cheat day, and this is mine." He smiled. God, I missed that smile.

"I'm going to find Benny. Wait here." I wandered off. I found him and we wandered back over to the food table.

"This loser is your plus one?" Benny chuckled.

"This loser? This loser happens to be my best friend." I shot back.

"Can we stop referring to me as 'this loser' and call me by my actual name, please? I'd appreciate it."

"Whatever man, I ain't in charge of you." Benny smiled, shook his head, and walked away.

"Cas, you were right. I shouldn't have started hanging out with him. I just felt like he could relate to me, but I was wrong."

"It's okay, man. C'mon, let's go swimming."

We changed in separate rooms. I looked in the mirror and noticed that on my hip, just above the swimsuit line, I had a tattoo. It looked familiar, like one I'd seen when I was little, but I shrugged it off.

When we got to the pool, Cas took his shirt off and crossed his arms. He'd clearly been working out. He waited until I jumped in, to uncross his arms. After splashing him, he jumped after me. I noticed a tattoo on his left side.

"Who's tattoo is that? Do you have a secret girlfriend?"

"What? OH! No, it's- it's nothing."

"Really? You're going to hide it from me?"

"I could say the same thing about you, mister I'm-trying-to-hide-it-under-my-swimsuit." He grinned. His come comebacks were always so stupid.

"I honestly have no idea who's it is. I found it when I was changing."

"The same thing happened to me."

"Mine looks familiar. Do you know it?"

"Let me see it." We jumped out of the pool I showed him mine. As he looked at it, he seemed scared and relieved. Then he looked down at his own ankle.

"So, do you know who's it is?"

"I'll only tell you on one condition. If you tell me who mine is." He turned towards me.

I looked at it. It was red, blood red. It was this weird symbol. It kind of looked like a backwards F. Exactly like mine. To the last detail. Even the part where it dips. I let out a gasp.

"It's yours, isn't it. I have your tattoo."

"Well what about me, Cas. This your tattoo?" He looked up at me with is blue eyes and smiled.

"Yeah, Dean. It's mine. You love me." He laughed.

"Yeah. Guess I can't hide it anymore."

"Well, you never really did, I could always see it in your eyes."

"I could see it in your smile. You only use it around me. When you were playing with Jo, in first grade, it was a different smile. Different than the one you used not two minutes later, on me." I grinned. "C'mon Cas. Let's go swim."

While Benny and his friends were playing spin the bottle, Cas and I were swimming. We did a cannonball, and when we sunk to the bottom, Cas grabbed me and kissed me. Unfortunately, we both needed air, so it only lasted a second.

Before Cas got out of the Impala, he grabbed my hand.

"I love you. Don't ever doubt that. And don't you dare go and date another girl. I sat through that once already, I don't need to see it again." He kissed my cheek and jumped out. "Talk to you tomorrow."

"Hey!" I shouted after him. "I love you too, you idiot."


	8. Sophomore Year

"Hey, listen to me. It's going to be fine. Your mom is wonderful. I know she'll understand." Cas grabbed my hand.

"I know. It's just, I don't know about my dad. You know how he is."

"Tell your mom before John gets home. Then maybe she can help you out. Does Sammy know yet?"

"No. He'll be the first, though. He will be by my side no matter what." We walked into the house. "Sammy!" I called.

"What?" Sam came running into the living room.

"Sit down there's something Cas and I have to tell you."

"Is it that you're dating? Because I already knew that. It was kinda obvious." Cas and I exchanged looks.

"Have you told Mom or Dad yet?" I asked. If they didn't hear it from me, they'd be pissed.

"No. Dad would be pissed if he didn't hear it from you."

"Sam, you shouldn't use that word." Cas said.

"Don't listen to him, he said the same thing to me in seventh grade." Cas elbowed me.

Mom got home an hour later. Cas was asleep on my lap and Sam was playing video games. We didn't hear her come in, and she stood over us for a minute.

"I knew it!" She shouted. Cas jumped up and Sam turned the Xbox off.

"Knew what exactly?" I asked.

"That you two were dating. I didn't want to ask, but I'm glad it finally happened. How long?" She was grinning.

"Five months. How did you know?"

"Dean, I'm a mother. I can tell these things."

"And you're not mad?"

"Honey, why would I be? I'm proud of you. It only took eleven years."

"Does John suspect anything?" Cas asked.

"Honey, don't look so terrified. John doesn't care. Just make sure you are the one to tell him you're dating his son."

Dad pulled into the driveway. Sam ran into the kitchen and got out his homework. "Mom! Pretend you're helping me with this. Dean and Cas, pretend to be asleep on the couch like you were when Mom got home." Cas and I layed back down on the couch and Dad walked through the door.

Mom pointed at us on the couch and he tiptoed around us. Then he threw a foam ball at me to wake us up.

"How long has this been going on?" He asked in a rough voice.

Cas sat straight up. "N-not long sir. Only five months." His face was pale.

"Only five months? You took that long to start dating?" He looked at Mom and laughed.

Cas let out a sigh of relief and leaned over to me "I thought he was going to kill me." He whispered. I laughed.

"He'd only do that if you hurt me, so don't hurt me." He punched me in the arm.

"Cas, honey, stay for dinner. We're having spaghetti."


	9. The Proposal

I looked over at Cas. He kept playing with his fingers. I grabbed his hands.

"Hey, calm down. It's only dinner." I said.

"Winchester, it's never 'only' anything with you. You said that party before sophomore year was only a party, but look where it got us." He smiled.

I grinned. "Are you complaining?"

"No, no. Just making a point."

We pulled up to the house where I grew up. We were going to Mom's to celebrate her birthday. Sam and his girlfriend Jess were already there when we walked in.

"Sammy, when'd you get back from California? And Jess, when'd you get more beautiful?" I gave Sam a hug and Jess a kiss on the cheek.

"We got here yesterday. I'm so glad to be back in Lawrence. I don't know if I could have made it another week in California. It's so hot over there." He grinned.

"Well, Sam, it's good to see you again," Cas said.

"It's good to see you too, Cas. Dean's not too much of a pain, is he?"

"Not yet." Sam laughed.

When Dad got home from picking up some food for dinner, we had settled into the living room with some beer. Cas looked uncomfortable. I pulled him into another room.

"Are you okay? I've never seen you this tense around my parents before."

"Yeah, fine. I just have a small headache, that's all."

"Alright. Let me know if you want to go home."

"I'm fine, it's nothing. We're here for your mom, I'll suck it up."

"Okay." We settled back onto the couch. Dad was in and out of the house preparing dinner. At one point, Cas followed him outside and was gone for a few minutes. Then I heard some laughing and Cas came back in.

"You look better. What did Dad tell you?" I asked.

"Nothing, we were just talking."

"About?"

"Steak."

"Steak?"

"Yes."

"Okay then."

"Dinner's ready!" Dad called out.

"Be right out, honey!" Mom called back. Jess stood up and followed Sam and Mom outside. I kissed Cas on the cheek and we followed them.

"This looks delicious, Dad," Sam said. "Oh, uh, Mom, can you pass the salad, please?"

"Sam, anything worth sharing? You seem pretty happy." I said.

"Well, I was going to wait until later to tell everyone, but if it's all right with Mom," she nodded, "Jess and I are engaged." Dad and Cas exchanged looks and Cas shifted in his seat.

"Oh, Sam, that's wonderful! Do you have a date yet?" Mom asked excitedly.

"Not yet," Jess replied, "but I'd really appreciate it if you helped with some of the planning."

"Of course, honey!"

When dinner was finished, we made our way back inside for cake and presents. It didn't take to long, but by the time we were done, it was eight.

"Dean, babe, we should probably get going. I have to be at school early tomorrow because I have a student who needs some extra help." Cas said

"Alright. Sammy, make sure you stop by before you guys leave." I gave him a hug and Jess another kiss. "See you later Dad" I gave him a hand shake. "Happy birthday, Mom." I gave her a hug.

"Goodnight everyone. Mary, happy birthday, Sam, Jess, good to see you. John." Dad winked. Cas grabbed his trenchcoat and we walked out. "I'm driving, Dean," He said when we got to the car.

"What? No. I'm driving. Get in the car."

"I need to stop somewhere first," He said.

"Where?" He was acting weird, and I wasn't going to stand for it.

"Just let me drive." He sounded a little annoyed.

"Fine." I tossed him the keys.

He drove for a good ten minutes in the opposite direction of basically everything. He stopped in a field. It looked familiar.

"Do you recognize this place?" He asked, getting out of the car.

"Yeah. We camped out here once, right?"

"Yeah. Second grade. My sister Hannah brought us out here and said she'd be back in the morning."

"Yeah, I remember that. You got cold, so I gave you my jacket and we shared a blanket." He laughed a bit.

"Yeah. Why are we here now, though?" I turned around. Cas was on his knee.

"Dean Winchester, will you marry me?"

"You bastard, I was gonna ask that. Of course, I will." I grinned. He stood up and put the ring on my finger.

"Oh, and just to clear something up, I have been feeling fine all day, I was just nervous about what your dad would say."

"So that's what you and Dad were talking about."

"Yeah, I-" I grabbed him and kissed him.

"Shut up and enjoy this, would you?" I laid down under a big willow tree, pulling him down with me. We sat there and looked up at the stars.


	10. The Addition

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p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="a788750bae937f440ea22dfca9a33ad8""Babe, we can do it. I've seen how you are around kids. Besides, we already babysat for Sam and Jess for a week, and nobody died. We are ready for a kid."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="fe6b545b092a0189ce282fcf4c560246""But this is different than babysitting. We can't give the baby back if we can't handle it, it's our responsibility."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="17af38c3a78e13eeeafde5b8ec4f758b""Cas, in all the years that you've been a teacher, I have watched you with kindergarteners and ninth graders. You can handle both of them. I work with kids all the time at the store. You've seen me. I think we can handle it. Sure it will be a challenge, but we'll go through it together."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="549d55e5ec8b00a974d0c05549e9c400"Cas smiled. "Okay. Let's do it."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="643d135d94145db5a32108a62ca1b459"A year later, we got a beautiful little girl. /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="e2765a31f8f8136214ae3d9e2d27fec3""We need a name for her," Cas said./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="189f824b4ad40e41571761ada5a6770d""What about Amara?" I suggested./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d9ae1b27c061d447a8b01f397375f870""No, Amara sounds like a rebellious teen. What about Bela."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="fa9817734a04a3ba4c6230d793591e4d""Bela sounds like a real badass and bitch. What about Claire."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="bb8d9bf038e99e4dfbe534cf4b9dd645""Claire. Claire Winchester? That sounds nice. I like that. Claire." Cas grinned. He walked over to the crib. "Hi, Claire. Welcome to the family." I smiled and walked over to him. I put my hand around his waist and he rested his head on my shoulder./p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="33a818ca5e4d72951de90d0cb4dc7121""This is the start of a new chapter," I said. "This is good."/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; font-size: 18px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e" /p 


	11. The Discovery

"Hey, Dean!" Dad yelled.

"What?"

"Can you go grab the rest of the groceries, there's like two bags."

"Sure." I ran outside to Dad's '86 Sierra Grande. I opened the back and grabbed the bags. When I lifted them up, one of the cans fell out. With it was a very hollow sound.

"What the hell?" I felt around for a switch of some sort, and sure enough, I found one. I set the groceries on the driveway and lifted up the false bottom. Under it was an arsenal of weapons, salt, spray paint, and a box of fake ID's.

"Hey Cas! C'mere for a sec." Cas ran out. "Look at this. Why would Dad have it in his trunk?"

"I don't know, why don't you ask him. John!"

"Yeah, Cas?"

"Can I talk to you about your truck?"

"Sure thing. I'll be right out."

When John walked up and noticed the arsenal, his face got white.

"How did you find this, Dean?" He asked calmly.

"One of the cans fell out and hit this. It sounded hollow, so I looked for a switch, and when I opened it, well."

"Well, I guess your mom and I had better come clean. Come inside with us and I'll explain it to you and Sam."

We walked in and sent Claire and Oliver, Sam's son, outside to play. Mom and Dad sat Cas, Sam, Jess, and I down.

"A long time ago, before you all were born, Uncle Bobby needed my help with something. That thing was a demon that was possessing his wife, Karen. Mary's father took care of things like that all the time, so we went out to help." Dad explained.

"We're called hunters. But when I found out I was pregnant, we quit. At least, we tried to. Your girl Claire, her parents were killed by an angel. That's why we could get her to you so easily."

"So the weapons, what are they for?" Asked Sam.

"Each monster can be killed a different way. Vamps have to have their heads cut off, demons need to be exorcised, vengeful spirits need to have the thing they are attached to burned."

"And the copious amounts of salt?" Cas inquired.

"Demons and ghosts can pass a line of salt. It keeps you safe. It is often used to repel ghosts, demons, and hell hounds."

"Spray paint?"

"Devil's traps. They trap demons. Any other questions?"

"Yeah." Jess said. "Why the fake ID's?"

"Well," Mom said "sometimes, to get information, we need to pretend to be FBI, US Marshals, Park Service, all kinds of things. So we need badges."

"I have a question." I said. "Why do you still have it? You said you quit, so why do you still have everything."

"We said we tried." Dad replied. "You never really quit the hunting life, you just hide from it. A friend, Rufus, needed our help, and Bobby's on a new creature. That's all. We were in no immediate danger."

All of the sudden, there was a shriek, then crying.

"Uh-oh, I hear drama." Jess said. The four of us got up and walked outside. Oliver was laughing and Claire was holding her elbow.

"Krissy, honey, what happened?" Cas walked over and picked her up.

"I-I got an ouchie!" She sniffled. "There was a bee. It was a meany." Cas turned to me and suppressed a smile. He went through an obsession with bees a while back, and now the thought just amuses him. He turned back to Claire.

"Oh. I see. Well, if we find that bee, we'll teach him a lesson. But there's no reason to cry. We'll get you fixed up."

"Oliver, this isn't something you should be laughing about." Jess scolded.

"Yes it is." He replied

"No, it's not." Sam said. "What if it was you who got stung, by the bee, not Claire. Then would you be laughing?"

"No." Oliver stopped and put his head down.

"We should get going. Thanks for dinner, and the lesson." Cas said.

When we got in the car, Cas and I exchanged looks.

"What are we supposed to do with this?" I whispered.

"I don't know. But hunting clearly runs in the family. When Claire gets older, maybe we'll look into it."


	12. The Hunt

"Dad, I want to come with you. I can take this vamp." Claire said, following me to the car.

"I don't doubt it, kid. But I promised Cas I wouldn't take you on any hunts while he's away. You know how he feels about it."

"C'mon. I'm fifteen. I can take care of myself."

"Clearly. By the way, when were you going to tell me about the tattoo?"

"Wh-what tattoo? I wasn't aware of any tattoos."

"The one on your left bicep. Claire, I'm a professional liar, I can tell when you're lying."

"I'll tell you when you get home. It's not important."

"Okay. Pa will be home by four. Don't say anything until I'm home. I'm only a few hours away if you need me. And if any one's at the door that we don't know, we-"

"Shoot first, ask questions later, I know." She rolled her eyes.

"Don't get sassy. I don't want you getting hurt. I'll be home tomorrow. Then I promise I won't take any more cases. I'll be done."

I pulled out. Sure I was worried about her, but this time, for a different reason. She had a tattoo that she won't tell me about, that's what worried me.

The nest was pretty straightforward, four vamps, none of them trying to stay hidden. I got home around two. Cas was asleep on the couch. I curled up next to him and fell asleep.


	13. We Need To Talk About Claire

"So, Claire, tell me about this tattoo of yours," Cas said in between spoonfuls of cereal.

"You told him?" She hissed at me.

"Of course, I told him, he's your father. Now I'm curious. Who's is it?" I asked calmly.

"It's Dustin's."

"Your boyfriend Dustin?"

"No. The waffle Dustin. Of course my boyfriend Dustin." She sighed. "What do I do?"

"Well, you could go to the beach and see if you see yours on him," Cas suggested. "That's pretty close to what I did."

"With who?" She asked.

I smiled. "I love this story," I said, "let me tell it. Okay, so the summer before sophomore year, your father and I were at a party that I had dragged him to. He didn't want to be there at all, but he went because I asked him."

"More begged rather than asked," He said.

"Shut up. I politely asked him to join me. We were at the pool when he realized I had a tattoo on my waist, and I noticed he had one on his left side. We compared them and realized that we had each other's tattoos."

"That is so cute. Now how do I do that with Dustin?"

"Why don't you ask Josephine or Krissy?" Cas asked.

"Because they would turn around and tell Dustin themselves," She said.

Cas looked at his watch. "Oh, shit. Dean, I gotta go. Come on Claire, I'm gonna be late." Cas jumped up, kissed me and grabbed his trench coat.

"Hey, kiddo, we'll talk later," I said.

"Can we also talk about getting me a car? I'll be sixteen in a few months."

"Absolutely not!" Cas yelled from outside. "Now let's go."

Cas and I sent Claire, Krissy, Josephine, and Dustin to the movies for the evening so we could have a nice dinner alone.

"Cas, why wouldn't she tell us about this?" I asked.

"I'm sure she was going to. It's not like she would have gotten married without us knowing." He said.

"I don't know, she might have." Cas laughed. "Seriously, you've seen how she's been lately. I saw her sneak out last night. I'm worried."

"She's just being a teenager, Dean. She'll grow out of it. We just have to give her time." I shook my head and laid down next to him on the couch.

Claire ran in squealing.

"Claire, it's almost midnight. Is there any particular reason that you are squealing and home past your curfew?" Cas asked groggily.

"Yes, there is."

"Would you care to tell us?" I asked.

"Well, on the way home, I was talking to Dustin and he rolled his sleeves up and I noticed a tattoo on his forearm. I asked him who's it was, he showed me."

"And it was yours."

"Yes. It. Was." She jumped up and down again.

"That's wonderful. Now go to bed. I'll be happy for you when I can get some sleep."


	14. Now

In case any of you are wondering, Cas and I are both retired from our normal jobs (teaching and working in the shop) and we hunt occasionally. Claire graduated high school and got married to her friend Aiden, Dustin married Josephine, and Krissy married Ben, Lisa's son. All of them hunt together, mainly focusing in Indiana.

Sam and Jess had another kid, a girl named Bela, of all names. Our uncle Bobby married a sheriff, Jody. Jo grew up to be a hunter and a cop and died with her mother, Ellen, and Ash on the job. Zachariah got possessed by an angel and was killed during the apocalypse, which we stopped from happening. Benny got turned into a vampire, and killed by Martin, a hunter.

All in all, most of our friends died. Somehow, Sam, Cas, and I managed to live. And our kids grew up to be strong, which is what's important


	15. Waking Up

"Dean!" A distorted voice called out my name. Someone slapped my face.

I opened my eyes. "Cas? Where are we? What happened? Is Claire all right? What about Mom and Dad? Jess?"

"Dean, what are you talking about?"

"How's our kid? Claire. Cas, we have a kid."

"No. Your mom died when you were a baby, your Dad died on a hunting trip. Claire is the daughter of Jimmy and Amelia Novak. Jess died when Sam was in college"

"No, she was our daughter. Jess and Sam had two kids, Oliver and Bela."

"Dean, you were touched by a Djinn. That was all a dream."

"No. No. It was real. We-we were married. We had a life." I broke down sobbing.

Sam ran in. "Dean! Cas what happened, is he okay?" He ran over to me.

"We had a life. We had a daughter. Sam and Jess had two kids, Oliver and Bela. Sam, it was real. Tell me it was real. I went through my whole life, from kindergarten to falling in love with Cas to adopting a child to retiring. It was real."

Sam took me back to the bunker. "Dean, you need some sleep."

"Fine."


	16. Coming Home

"Cas I need to talk to you. It'll only be a moment, c'mon." Cas followed me into my room. We sat down on my bed.

"Cas, I-" He hugged me. "Please tell me it was real. I loved it, every minute of it. We were in love, there were these pictures-tattoos, that would tell you if you loved someone. I had yours, you had mine. It was amazing." Cas and I laid down on the bed.

"Tell me everything about it, Dean. Tomorrow."

"I love you," I whispered.

"I know, Dean. Go to bed." Cas replied.


	17. The End

I sat up. I looked around. I was back in the bunker.

My head was pounding.

I rolled onto my side. Cas was looking down at me.

"Hey, you," I said, sitting up.

"How are you feeling, Dean?" He asked.

"I'm fine, as long as we can forget everything I said last night," I said.

"Why would you want to forget that?" He asked. He looked really confused.

"You obviously don't feel that way about me, and I do enjoy being friends. I don't want that to change..." I said.

He looked down and smiled. "Dean, you couldn't be more wrong."

"Cas... I know you don't love me. You don't have to say this to protect me."

"Dean, why do you think I raised you from perdition? I begged my father to let me save you. I couldn't take seeing you suffer. At first, you were just a human, but you are so much more than that to me now. Even when I was brainwashed by Naomi, you got through to me."

"Cas! Stop! This hurts. I hate it when you lie to me!" I shouted.

"DEAN! Listen to me! I LOVE YOU! Get that through your thick skull!" He yelled.

"I don't believe you, Cas. I want to, but I can't."

"Then let me help you." He leaned over and kissed me. Then promptly got out of the bed and walked away.

"Cas!" My voice cracked. I ran after him. "Hey!"

"Dean!" Sam ran up behind me. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Sam. Where's Cas?" I asked quickly.

"He just went into the kitchen. What's wrong?" He looked concerned.

I grinned. "Absolutely nothing is wrong. Actually, the opposite." I ran into the kitchen.

"DEAN!" Sam called after me.

"Cas! What the hell?"

"Do you believe me now, Dean?" He looked down at his shoes.

"Hey, Cas," I said, walking towards him, "I believe you."

He smiled. "Good," he said, turning around.

I walked up behind him. He slowly turned to face me.

"Now that that's straightened out, I think Sam has a few errands he has to run," I said.

"That's cool, I guess. I don't see how that has anything to do with anything." I grinned.

"Then let me help you." I kissed him.

"That's my line." He said softly, before kissing me back. He stopped abruptly.

"Sam," Cas said gruffly. "I believe you have some errands to run."

Sam stood there dumbfounded.

"This is not what it looks like," I said.

"Really? Because to me, it looks like you and Cas were–well– er–you know–kissing." Sam mumbled, scratching the back of his head.

"Yeah, okay. That is what it looks like." I replied.

"I-I'm just gonna g-go out. You guys need anything? Like– food wise?"

"No, Sammy, I think we're fine," I said.

"O-okay. I'm just-" He stumbled away.

"Dean, what's wrong with Sam? Is he sick? Is it something I can heal?" Cas asked.

"No, Cas, this isn't something you can heal. He'll be fine. Now come here."


End file.
